Nike Inc.

When Phil was at the University of Oregon in 1959, he ran track for Bill Bowerman. Bill had a quest for lighter, durable racing shoes for his runners. This pushed Phil to figure out a way to make a living without giving up his love of sports. Bill’s desire for better shoes made Knight search for a marketing strategy. The seed of the most famous sporting shoe company has sprouted.

Nike, Inc. is an American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development and worldwide marketing and selling of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area. It is the world 's leading supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment, with revenue in excess of US$24.1 billion in its fiscal year 2012 (ending May 31, 2012). As of 2012, it employed more than 44,000 people worldwide. The brand alone is valued at $10.7 Billion making it the most valuable brand among sports businesses. Nike and Precision Castparts are the only Fortune

Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight started Nike Inc. in 1971, formally known as Blue Ribbon Sports. Bill Bowerman was a former track and field coach at the University of Oregon, and Phil Knight was a student-athlete at the University of Oregon. After numerous years of supplying under Blue Ribbon Sports, the two decided to enter the athletic shoe manufacturing business. The first employee of the company was Jeff Johnson, who helped them with branding what is known today as NIKE Inc.

Nike was founded on January 25, 1964, as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight (Citation) and was officially named Nike Inc. on May 30, 1971. The company initially operated as a distributer for Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger (Citation). Nike first started making shoes by the help of Bowerman. He made track shoes for Phil Knight, a track and field athlete, at the time, attending the University of Oregon. In Blue Ribbon Sports first year of business, they sold 1,300 pairs of running shoes. In 1966, Blue Ribbon Sports opened their first retail store located in Santa Monica, California next to a beauty salon (Citation). Then the infamous Nike swoosh was created in 1971 by Carolyn Davidson (Citation). The company has been flourishing ever since opening and is showing nothing, but upside for its consumers.

The Athletic shoe industry had its start in 1892 when U.S Rubber company invented Keds and by

Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight first started Nike on January 25th, 1964 but the name started out as Blue Ribbon Sports. They worked for a Japanese shoemaker called Onitsuka Tiger as merchandisers. Eventually Bill and Phil changed the name to Nike on May 30th, 1971. The company name Nike came from the ancient Greek goddess of victory (O’Reilly).

Nike is a huge supplier if athletic shoes for the world these days. Philip H. Knight, the founder of this corporation came up with an idea of an athletic shoe at the track field of the University of Oregon.

Nike is the leading and yet renowned supplier of athletic apparel and shoes. The company controls close to 33% of the global athletic shoe market (Dogiamis & Vijayashanker,2009).Nike was founded by Bill Power and Phil Knight in 1962 as a Blue Ribbon Support and then was later on renamed to Nike in the year 1968 (Patrow,2003).The company supplies very high quality product in close to 100 countries with major markets being located in the U.S,U,K, Asia Pacific as well as in the Americas. The company has managed to attain its lead and legendary position via the application of innovative and yet attractive product design which is backed by quality production as well as well crafted marketing strategies.

NIKE, Inc. designs, develops, markets and sells footwear, apparel, and equipment, accessories and services. Its athletic footwear products are designed primarily for specific athletic use, although a large percentage of the products are worn for casual or leisure purposes. It focuses on NIKE Brand and Brand Jordan product offerings in seven key categories: running, basketball, football, men's training, women's training, NIKE sportswear, and action sports. It also markets product designed for kids, as well as for other athletic and recreational uses such as baseball, cricket, golf, lacrosse, outdoor activities, football, tennis, volleyball, walking, and wrestling.

Who created Nike? Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight introduced Nike in 1971. Bill Bowerman at the time was a head coach for the track team at University of Oregon. Retiring in 1972 from coaching the track team, Bowerman starts teaching and served The Board of Directors. Phil Knight was attending the University of Oregon majoring in Business as well as on the track team. Knight didn’t like the shoes they had for running. Knight today has a networth of $21.6 billion. Originally it was going to be called “Dimension 6”, it came from a Greek Goddess.

Nike Company started in 1984, in Portland Oregon by Tinker Hatfield, a former pole-vaulter and architect. Hatfield worked his way into the shoe industry. He got his idea from Converse’s in the early 1970’s slogan, Limousines for the Feet. In Hatfield believe our culture have a lot of interest in shoes, just as much as our culture back in the 1950’s were interested in owning cars. They began introducing their Nike shoes and products to the society by images of people and things like the production of the Nike Air Jordan. This product was named after Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan is the best basketball player and biggest star at that time. In advertisement, Michael Jordan would show us a quick lay up to the goal

Nike, Inc. has been the world’s leading innovator and provider in athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for 50 years. Their mission has been to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world; if you have a body, you are an athlete. Arguably one of the most innovative companies in the world, Nike has built its brand into an iconic world-class powerhouse that continues to dominate the market with no signs of slowing up. Nike’s marketing and advertising have been breakthrough, aspirational, and legendary over the years, featuring high-profile athletes and heroes.

Nike began as Phil Knight’s semester-long project to develop a small business, which included a marketing plan. This project was part of Phil Knight’s MBA course at Stanford University in the early 1960s. Phil Knight had been a runner at the University of Oregon in the late 1950s. His idea for his project was to develop high quality running shoes. He thought that high quality/low cost products could be produced in Japan and then shipped to the United States to be sold at a profit. His professor thought that Knight’s idea was interesting, but not much more than a project.

Before Nike came into existence Nike's brand was conceptualized at the University of Oregon .at university bill Bowerman was knights track coach.. After his running days were over at university knight enrolled at the prestigious Stanford business school for his master's degree in finance. Whilst

Nike began as an enterprise in Oregon with its founder, sports enthusiast Phil Knight. In 1962, Nike started under the name Blue Ribbon Sports. During this time, the athletic shoe industry was dominated by the Adidas and Puma companies. Knight recognized there was segment of serious athletes that had specialized needs that were not being addressed by the major companies.